This abandoned prison was known as the Medium Security Institution in recent years, but was originally called the St Louis workhouse. The original workhouse location opened back in 1853 near the intersection of south broadway and Meramec Street on St. Louis south side. The site was specifically chosen for the workhouse because of its close proximity to the banks of the Mississippi River, were there were rocky bluffs, and deep Gullies loaded with rich clay deposits.
Photo By: @sketchyjawns
The purpose of the workhouse was quite simple. If you were convicted of a crime that required the payment of a fine or a penalty that you could not afford to pay, you would then be incarcerated for a period of time to work off the debt through hard labor. Prisoners could not be held longer than six months and were paid 50 cents a day, which was actually generous pay for back in that time period.
Photo By: @sketchyjawns
Photo By: @alisonnn07 Taken 6 months previous to our visit for this video.
The prisoners would work along the banks of the Mississippi River during the day, and then return back to the prison in the evening where they were all houses in different cell blocks, each cell was 12 x 16 feet, and held a shocking six prisoners in each cell. An interesting fact is that the workhouse was considered isolated and so far from the city of St. Louis that the prison guards, the superintendent, and the warden also lived on the prison property, with the guards housed in barracks.
Photo By: @alisonnn07 Taken 6 months previous to our visit for this video.
Photo By: @sketchyjawns
Although the average stay of the prisoners at the workhouse was six months tops, many say it was the most grueling and unforgettable time of their lives. Like something out of a Hollywood movie, the prisoners were marched down into the yawning mouth of a giant quarry every morning, stopping only for lunch, before working late into the evening. With the exception of some women who were seamstresses, both men and women worked in the quarry. Ten-hour days were the norm and while chained in manacles, the workers would break stones with sledgehammers. The stone was then packed into the street beds throughout the city and some of the rich clay was used to make the famous bricks that also helped build St Louis in the early 1900s.
Photo By: @sketchyjawns
The hard labor was said to be so brutal and backbreaking that it caused many prisoners to go completely mad and drove some to the point of no return, leading to both suicide and even murder. After several riots took place over the harsh conditions at the prison, the decision was made to close the old workhouse prison and build a new one.
Photo By: @sketchyjawns
Photo By: @sketchyjawns
The old workhouse prison was demolished when the new Interstate 55 was built right through it. When the new Medium Security Institution was built in 1966, the workhouse name stuck, although they no longe require prisoners to work hard labor to pay off debts. The new workhouse was not without its own course of public problems, eventually leading to its closure. Although there had been years of complaints and reports regarding the grim reality of life behind bars at the workhouse, it received little scrutiny or backlash until 2017. One of the very first things to come about nationally was during a heat wave in the summer of 2017, dozens of protesters gathered outside the workhouse prison and chanted “shut it down,” after a video showing prisoners in sweltering 100 degree temperatures inside the jail begging for relief went viral. Many protestors gathered outside the prison to protest the extreme heat, black mold, broken plumbing, and rodent infestation inside the jail.
Photo By: @alisonnn07 Taken 6 months previous to our visit for this video.
Photo By: @alisonnn07 Taken 6 months previous to our visit for this video.
A local justice reform group got involved and sued the city of St Louis over the now infamous harsh conditions at the workhouse prison. Unfortunately the workhouse story wasn’t over. Story didn’t end there. Shorty after the workhouse closed, it was used temporarily to hold prisoners that needed to be housed elsewhere after the notorious St. Louis city justice center inmate riots over its own harsh conditions. The last inmates left the workhouse prison in the summer of 2022. The prison has since permanently closed. After the workhouse protests, lawsuit, and the other negative attention was brought into the public spotlight, the city of St. Louis was left with no other choice but to close the overcrowded and underfunded prison. The St. Louis workhouse aka the medium security institution was finally closed in 2021.
Photo By: @sketchyjawns
Photo By: @sketchyjawns
Upon our exploration of the workhouse prison we discovered some form of renovations and rehabilitation already underway. It will be interesting to see what happened with the once notorious St. Louis workhouse prison.